Let's pick up from where we left off last week. The spat that broke out between blogger Mike Daisey and Todd Olson, artistic director of the American Stage Theatre Company, has grown in size now that George Hunka has entered the ring. Hunka is unconvinced by the arguments of both Daisey and Olson about the way that "institutional theatres" operate. "At bottom," he says, "they are arguing issues of power – who should have it, who should not. The most important American theatre, however, is being made outside of these institutions, a fact that neither Daisey nor Olson deigns to notice." Hunka goes on to state that Daisey's reluctance to discuss what theatre should be doing from a creative and aesthetic point of view is where his core problem lies.

Of course, Daisey is never one to shy away from a fight. And in his point-by-point response to Hunka, he tackles the argument head-on. He is reluctant, he says, to discuss what theatre should be doing "because it's unnecessary and destructive. My work has been primarily to illuminate and illustrate what is broken in the current system: you do not have to create a new system in order to do that." In one respect, both of them are right: institutional exploitation in any industry is something that needs to be attacked, and the practical problems that face many artists can be very damaging creatively. But the institutions that Daisey is concerned about are not the only places where art can be produced, and if they are not working properly, then artists just have to find other contexts in which to be creative.

It can often feel like the arguments and ideas which arise on the blogs have little chance of making any tangible impact on the real world. So it is great to hear that one blogger is getting the chance to put some of his thoughts into practice. Scott Walters has been considering how a strong bond can be developed between a theatre and the community it serves. He has just announced that he's been awarded a grant of $5,000 (£3,320) by the National Endowment for the Arts to begin exploring his ideas. His hope is that "this funding will lead to the creation of many theatres in small and rural communities across America, who are underserved by the mainstream theatre".

In other news, Travis Bedard of Cambiare Productions is unimpressed by the Guardian's recent film of Caryl Churchill's Seven Jewish Children. He argues that the problem lies in the fact that it is performed by only one person. This, he says, "does the piece and the discussion a disservice ... the balm to the outcry against the presumed antisemitism in the piece was to show the conflict in the unnamed and textually undifferentiated characters" but with only one voice there can be no debate and this "leaves the trendline towards Ms Churchill's conclusion as the ONLY point of the piece". As Bedard admits, he is no stranger to this play, having mounted (and conveniently filmed) his own production of it, which he invites readers to "compare and contrast" with the Guardian's film.

Finally, if you're feeling peckish then you might want to make your way over to David Jays at the Performance Monkey. He is discussing that vital issue of what to eat during the interval. He was particularly impressed by a recent trip to the Berliner Ensemble which put many British theatres to shame by offering "lovely yeasty pretzels and thick cheese straws, soft and salty and strangely satisfying". Jays wonders whether some of "the recipes might descend directly from Helene Weigel" – Brecht's second wife, who starred in many of his original productions. Perhaps so, but however great they taste, let's hope it is her performances rather than her pretzels which are remembered in the long run.